Cool down with refreshing watermelon granita

Watermelon granita is mostly shaved ice made from a lightly sweetened fruit purée or other liquid(Photo: Chula King)

Southern Watermelon Granita is the perfect cool-down treat for these hot summer days. Boasting only three ingredients, the granita is as refreshing as it is show-stopping gorgeous. It produces the perfect marriage between the sweet and juicy watermelon, and the tart lime.

Granita, pronounced “gruh·nee·tuh” originally hails from Sicily. It is really nothing more than shaved ice made from a lightly sweetened fruit purée or other liquid. It’s related to sorbet but has more of a crystalline texture that can vary from somewhat smooth to coarse. Unlike ice cream and gelato that require a machine to produce the best texture, granita only requires a pan for the freezing and a fork to produce the shaved ice.

In the South, a favorite component of granita is watermelon which is abundant during the hot summer months. Watermelon is 92% water and is low in calories. Despite its high water content, watermelon is packed with lots of nutrients including vitamin A, Vitamin C, iron, calcium, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B-6, folate, pantothenic acid, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, coper, manganese, selenium, choline, betaine and lycopene.

In fact, according to the National Watermelon Promotion Board, watermelon contains more lycopene than any other fruit or vegetable. Who knew that something so delicious could be so good for you?

The most hands-on time-consuming part of making the granita is cutting the watermelon. The easiest way that I've found is to first cut the watermelon in half using a very sharp knife. The sharp knife is a must. However, it doesn't matter whether you cut the watermelon length-wise or width-wise.

Once the watermelon is cut, place one of the halves cut-side down on a cutting board. Then, cut 1 to 1 1/2-inch vertical slices through the watermelon. Next, turn the watermelon 90 degrees and cut 1 to 1 1/2-inch vertical slices to form a crosshatch pattern. This produce watermelon "sticks" that are a piece of cake to cut into chunks.

Watermelon granita has just three ingredients.(Photo: Chula King)

Southern Watermelon Granita

Makes 10 servings

Ingredients:

8 cups seedless watermelon chunks (1/2 seedless watermelon)

3/4 cup (6 ounces) frozen limeade concentrate, thawed

1 1/2 cups (12 ounces) Sprite or 7-Up (See Tip 1)

Instructions:

Working in batches, place watermelon chunks in a food processor fitted with a steel blade or a blender.

Purée until watery and smooth, 7 to 8 seconds. (See Tip 2)

Add limeade concentrate and Sprite; stir to combine.

Pour into 9 x 13-inch pan. Place pan in freezer until mixture is frozen. Once it's frozen, draw a fork over the granita until all of the mixture is formed of ice crystals. (See Tip 3)

Store granita ice crystals in the freezer in Ziploc bag or covered container.

Serve frozen. Yield: 10 servings. (See Tip 4)

Chula's Helpful Tips

I used regular Sprite. However, you could also use sugar-free Sprite or 7-Up.

Because of its high-water content, watermelon doesn't take much processing to purée it. However, be careful not to over-fill the food processor or blender. Otherwise, it'll overflow and make a mess. Depending on the size of your food processor or blender, it's better to purée the watermelon in several stages.

For a more traditional way to make granita, place in freezer until mixture begins to freeze around the edges. With a fork, draw ice from the edges towards the center. Return to the freezer, and then repeat this process about 3-4 times, every 30 minutes, or until all of the granita mixture is formed of ice crystals.

For variation, use the watermelon granita mixture to make popsicles or ice pops!